Disney prides itself on attention to detail and authenticity. Each attraction in a Disney park is themed to evoke a place, an era, a culture that is unique and instantly recognizable.

Here are some shots taken in the queue for the Kilimanjaro Safari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando. The real Kilimanjaro is a mountain in a national park in Tanzania, just over the border from Kenya. The Serengeti is close by.

Yep, I’d say Disney did a good job with the authenticity – it’s definitely Africa hot in Orlando much of the year, especially in the summer! Make sure you’ve got something cool to drink while waiting in the queue.

So, I’m not the only one who can have a particular focus on Walt Disney World’s adult beverages, am I? 😉 I was especially delighted that a few of the beverages that were covered here are new to me – yay, another reason to go back!

Here are some of my favorites from various bars around The World:

THE BAILOUT

The Bailout from Shula’s Steakhouse at the Walt Disney World Dolphin resort

This is a continuation of the story that began on March 19th 2010 with “Me and my girl-illa” Click the photos to see them larger in Flickr.

🙂 Hello again. Last time we met, I was busy sneaking around in the brush, trying to keep the prying lenses of the paparazzi away from my newborn baby girl-illa. There was a whole swarm of them, so I kept her pretty close to me (here you can only see the crown of her cute little head), creeping from one bush to the next, hoping to lose them. It’s not easy to elude the paparazzi; they’re a sly and resourceful bunch of stalkers, often working together to corner us, like dolphins herding schools of fish. I saw that on the BBC’s Planet Earthseries, which seems to have greatly contributed toward Disney’s own Earth (Disney Nature)

Finally, I found a nice fallen tree behind some bushes; it looked like a good place to lean back and rest from all the running to and fro, hither and yon, trying to find someplace, ANYPLACE to hide from the hordes. It was sunny and peaceful out there for a bit, and we both got some shut-eye. Well, I have one eye shut -the other one has to remain open at all times, just in case we’re invaded again. While we were snoozing, my mobile rang – it was Britney and Billy Ray, conference-calling with some advice on dealing with the whole publicity spotlight thing. Britney says that sometimes it’s better to bring the kid out into the open for a few minutes, under carefully controlled circumstances, of course, to make it seem like you’re friendly and cooperating. Billy Ray concurred that this tactic had worked with his darling Miley many times.

Well what’s a mama to do? I took her up on the hill, a safe distance from that herd of pests, and let them see her face. And wouldn’t you know, she turns out to be quite the little ham! She turned that sweet face up and gazed into my eyes and said, “I dunno who you are but I wuvs you!”. Couldn’t you just melt?

After a while, the paparazzi just started to annoy me. They yell directions, calling me by my first name like they’ve known me all my life, telling me to look this way, hold the baby higher, smile, turn your head, no the other way…. I tell you, this one guy was on my LAST nerve. Here I am giving him my best withering look. I think he was good and properly scared, as well he should be. These paparazzi dudes, they may be armed with a camera, but I’ve got THIS.

I saw this shirt while browsing the Outpost in the World Showcase at EPCOT a couple of weeks ago. I almost bought it, but then decided that I have enough Disney t-shirts hanging in my closet just now and perhaps I should practice a little consumer restraint 😉 Quit feeling my forehead, I’m fine! LOL!

Anyhow, I snapped a pic to remind myself to google and see if I could figure out what’s up with peace, Africa, and 2025. Turns out it refers to a study that’s recently been published, which sets forth three possible scenarios for where Africa will be by 2025, pending decisions made and actions taken TODAY. I found the report fascinating. If you want to download and read it yourself, or just become familiar with the project, click this link – UNAIDS – Africa 2025

🙂 I took some photos at EPCOT recently that I thought would be great for Blue Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday. I thought I’d just tuck them away in the vault somewhere, hoping that an appropriate prompt for Manic Monday would someday be declared, and then I could use them for my Monday Meme Trifecta.

Well, I must have ESPN 😉 or clairvoyance or something. Either that, or I’m very, very lucky, for Mo declared that today’s prompt is “ROCK” – w00t!

About two weeks ago, I stood in the Outpost, a little African section of the World Showcase at EPCOT, browsing the hats and jewelry and carved objects, when my eyes fell on this bin of rocks and semi-precious stones.

So what, you say? Well, check out what was in upper-middle bin!

Three of ’em, cause it’s a TRIfecta, after all. 😉 Hearts mean love, so this is ME, sending lots of LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to all of YOU who read here. Now, run along with you all, have a FABULOUS Monday and don’t forget to pay the LOVE forward <3 <3 <3
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